Purple Frosting
by fortheloveofawerewolf
Summary: Peeta notices more than he tells, and Katniss Everdeen is no exception. What happens when they live in the same dorm at college? Add that to balancing life as a freshie, plus Johanna Mason as her college roomie, and Katniss has her work cut out for her. AU. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone, I'm back with a Hunger Games fic! As always, I would love your reviews. I haven't decided if I'll post this as a one-shot or as a flashback to a college life AU. Let me know what you think!

Calling us close acquaintances would be a stretch. Basically, we've met.

Kind of.

Of course I knew his name at the time, I'd been in school with him for years. But I'd never actually spoken to Peeta Mellark until he showed up on my doorstep.

It had been a tough month making ends meet. On January 6th, one side of our house caught on fire. Thankfully it didn't spread too far before we got it under control. But the kitchen, living room and laundry room were basically gone, and we needed to rebuild. Our insurance policy only covered about half the cost. Mom covered extra shifts at the diner, Dad worked late at the city conservatory, and when we weren't in school or doing homework, my little sister Prim and I were clearing away charred ceiling supports, pots and pans bent beyond repair, and the threadbare cushions that used to grace the couch. If any of us were free, that's where our time went. It was a mess. Worst of all, we were all far too busy to pull together a nice dinner and buy a cupcake like we usually did for Prim's birthday. That's what hit me hardest. We went out to the diner, Mom had the night off, and shared a few burgers and sang to the still cheerful birthday girl.

We went home to the reality of our house, I tucked her in bed and curled up next to her. When she was asleep, I fished out my diary and complained into it, the moonlight the only thing letting me see my blue pen's marks.

The next day was dark and rainy. Prim and I were working on homework in our room, practically smothered in blankets trying to ward off the cold. I barely heard the knock on the front door over the pounding of the rain. Grunting, I pulled myself up, still wrapped in a blanket to see who the visitor was. I opened the door to Peeta, wondering what the heck he was doing here.

"Hi, Katniss, um, you didn't get Prim's cupcake yesterday, so I-I wanted to deliver it to you guys.. Sorry about your house, tell her I said happy birthday!" Peeta was obviously nervous as he thrust the box with a vanilla cupcake with purple frosting and tiny yellow flowers into my hands. He opened his big red umbrella and hurried away, his rain boots sending water everywhere as he sloshed back into town. Still frowning in confusion, I watched him until he turned the corner and was out of sight. I closed the door with a shiver, remembering the cupcake.

Prim's cupcake that we couldn't afford this year.

I went back into our room. Prim looked up from her book.

"Who was it?"

I looked up, Prim looked concerned at my expression.

"Peeta Mellark just showed up on our doorstep, gave me a cupcake and said to tell you happy birthday. So... Here, happy birthday from Peeta, I guess..." I handed her the box and she grinned.

"That was sweet of him."

"Yeah... It was a little weird but nice."

"Oh... My gosh, you don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" Prim pressed her lips together and shook her head. I grabbed both her braids, pulling her head back to look me straight in the eyes, and she giggled.

"Let go of my hair, Katniss."

"What don't I know?"

"It's so obvious."

"Then tell me."

"No."

"Why not?"

"You'll figure it out someday. Well, probably not. But you'll find out someday."

"Ugh!"

She laughed again, and I released her. I grabbed a box of matches from the pile of utility things we'd gotten to replace the burned stuff, and pulled the beautiful cupcake out of the box. I lit the match and stuck it in the top of the purple frosting, so that it resembled a candle.

"Happy birthday, little duck." She beamed at me, closing her eyes as she blew the match out.

"He probably frosted it himself, you know. These are Primrose flowers." She used her finger to gently lift a yellow bud off the purple.

"Yeah he probably did."

"How come you never talk to him?"

I scowl.

"I don't talk to anyone."

"You talk to Gale."

"Gale doesn't count."

"Why not?"

"Because he's Gale. I've known him too long not to talk to him. My only other friend is Madge and I don't even talk to her."

"I'll never understand that..."

"Well we have homework to do, eat your cupcake." She peeled off the wrapper, taking a small bite and holding it out to me.

"Have a bite too."

"No, it's yours."

"Come on, Katniss. Just a little bite."

"Fine." I have to admit, it's as delicious as it always is. Prim insists I taste her cupcake every year.

"I wonder how he knew it was your birthday yesterday."

"We go into his dad's bakery every year, you buy me one cupcake, hand it to me and tell me happy birthday... And we don't go in there any other time. Take a guess."

"Yeah but I mean he remembered the _day_. Not just like around the time but the actual day." Prim smirked and said nothing as she took another nibble, getting purple on her nose. I smiled at the girliness of the little blonde in front of me.

The next day at school, I caught myself smiling back at the boy surrounded by a group of his friends, his smile surprisingly shy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay here's chapter 2! Let me know if you like the direction the story is going, and if you want more. Not sure if I want to keep going very long with this story, so def tell me if you'd like more! ^.^**

"Hey, you're Katniss right?" I glanced up. Peeta Mellark stood before me. Not two feet away in the tiny elevator.

"Yeah... Hi Peeta." I shifted my bag on my shoulder.

"It's been a long time since I saw you, imagine running into you so far from home." He smiled.

"Yeah... Small world I guess, right?" He chuckled and nodded. The elevated dinged and we parted to go to our separate rooms. After dropping my bags in my assigned dorm, I went down again to get the last of my stuff from my car. I recalled the cupcake he gave Prim as I caught sight of the sturdy, broad-shouldered blond lugging his suitcase down the hall opposite mine. I found it odd that he was going to the same school as me, one that happened to be a couple hours out of town. But I was quickly swept up in the rest of the settling in process as began my freshman year of college.

Entering my own room, I nearly tripped over a box directly in front of me.

"What the heck?" I shove it away with my foot and dumped my stuff on my bed. The tiny girl swiveled around and faced me.

"I assume you're either lost or my roommate."

"You must be Johanna Mason."

She grinned, "Guilty as charged."

"So... Um. I'm Kat Everdeen."

"Good to know. So, what do you think of all these hunks parading around our dorm?"

"They're... They're hunky."

"Gosh, you're no fun..." She turned back to where she was making her bed, peeling off her tshirt and throwing it in a corner. She had nothing underneath. I roll my eyes. Just get through the semester.

"Hi, Jo!" I jumped at a male voice in our doorway. "Aren't you going to introduce me?" I look over my shoulder at the gorgeous bronze haired dude smirking at me.

Johanna didn't even try to cover up, shamelessly turning to grin at the guy.

"Hi Fin, this is my prudie-excuse me-roomie, Kat." Fin leaned in, holding out his hand to me. I took it, scowling at Jo.

"Sorry I remain fully clothed in front of other people..." They both laughed.

"Finnick Odair. Nice to meet you, Kat."

"Hi Finnick..." I am very uncomfortable with these two, who ooze confidence and apparently have no qualms about invading personal space or nudity. Two things that I dislike. And they're not even together...

I poked my bottom lip absently with the back of my pen, balancing a complex chemical equation in the library. I was pushed out of my concentration as someone set down two coffee cups and slid into the chair across from me. My eyes lifted to meet the bright blues of Peeta Mellark.

"Um, hey.." I wondered what he was up to.

"Hi Katniss, you working on chem?"

I nodded, glancing down as he pushed one cup to me.

"I got you a coffee, mind if I steal a little of your time? I feel extremely awkward and out of place here."

"What, is the famed popular lovable Peeta Mellark lonely?" I gave him a half-smile and he grinned back.

"Lovable?" He chuckled. "A little, I admit. There's nothing like someone from home when you're in a brand new place."

"Right..." I popped open the top of the coffee cup and dumped in half of one sugar packet that he plopped down.

"How are you getting along with your roommate?" I glanced up at his query.

"Eh... Fine, she's a little... Too much I guess. By the end of the semester I'll either hate her passionately or be best friends with her. She spent most of Sunday topless in our room with the door wide open. But we have different schedules so that helps. I think she'll drive me crazy."

He chuckled, the sound making me smile. His happiness was irritatingly infectious.

"She sounds colorful. Yeah, mine walked in introducing himself as 'Finnick Odair, ladykiller and part-time sea god.'" He did a spot on imitation of Finnick's sexy confident voice which we both laughed at.

"I met him! He's friends with Jo."

"Really? I'll have to meet Jo at some point."

"Don't feel bad if you don't-you'd be escaping."

He laughed again.

"Is Finnick always that... You know...?"

"He calls himself 'ladykiller and part-time sea god.' He never gives it a rest. It's ridiculous because he's actually right."

"About which?"

"Both. He's obnoxiously perfect and it makes me hate him, except I really can't hate him which makes it worse..."

"Yeah he's awful!" I laughed. I didn't realize how easy it was to hang out with Peeta. I guess it's because I never gave him a chance, he was always one of the wealthy kids that I disliked for being more fortunate than me.

"Peeta?" I heard a quiet voice behind me draw Peeta's attention up behind my shoulder. I turned to see the girl.

"Hi Annie, this is Katniss, sit down and join us!" The willowy redhead smiled shyly and took the seat Peeta offered her.

"Hi Annie." I'm not sure what to think of this girl, is she Peeta's girlfriend? Crush? Friend?

"Annie and I are in the same math class. She's a lot smarter than me, so she's been helping me out." Peeta smiled.

"I'm not smarter than you! I'm just... Better at math..." Annie's cheeks were pinkish at his description.

"Okay Annie..." I giggled at Peeta's expression, showing Annie he obviously didn't agree with her but would humor her for now.

We spent half an hour chatting, and I really like Annie. She's very normal, she's sweet and quiet, and she keeps her clothes on. Unfortunately, Finnick plopped himself down in the fourth chair at the table grinning widely at me. I scowled back.

"Is that coffee?"

"No it's slime, you won't want it."

He swiped my cup anyway and took a long drink of it.

"Hey!" I said at the same time as he choked.

"Is it black?"

I frown.

"No...no I put sugar in it."

"Not enough! Bleh! That's awful!" I grab my cup back out of his hands.

"Then don't drink it, idiot!" Peeta and Annie are laughing as Finnick grabs Peeta's cup to try to get rid of the terrible taste left by mine.

"EUHGH! That one's worse!" Peeta took his cup back.

"That was worth the $3."

"Ever heard of sugar?" Finnick dug around in his backpack before pulling out a bag of skittles, ripping it open and dumping half of them in his mouth. Peeta was laughing uncontrollably as Fin chewed grumpily. Finally, he took Annie's hand and dumped the rest of the skittles into her palm.

"I'm Finnick, who do I have the pleasure of meeting?" Annie blushed.

"I'm Annie Cresta."

"Annie... I hope you enjoy these, do not under any circumstances drink from either of these cups, and have fun talking to these losers." He smiled sweetly, taking her other hand and kissing her knuckles before standing, swinging his backpack onto his shoulders.

"English 101, here I come!" He walked off dramatically.

"Annie has a new admirer..." Peeta grinned cheekily, nudging Annie's arm as she got even pinker and ate the skittles one by one in the order of the rainbow, reds, then oranges, yellows, greens and purples.

"He's just nice..."

"No really, Annie, I think he kinda likes you." I make eye contact with Peeta across the table.

"Well I'll see you two later, I have biology!" Annie quickly made an exit, leaving me and Peeta chuckling in her wake.

"She likes him too. We should set them up."

"Hello, I'm Katniss Everdeen, doting busybody and successful matchmaker."

"With her loyal companion, Peeta Mellark, assistant busybody and matchmaker in training." He laughed.

"So Fin said yes?" I tugged on my jeans as I clutched the phone in my other hand.

"Yeah, we're set. I'll meet you there, bye Kat." He laughed a little as our scheme started to pan out.

"Okay, see ya." I hung up as I heard a knock on my door and a timid head poked around.

"Katniss?"

"Hi Annie, come in, I'll be ready in a sec." I dug through a drawer looking for my lip gloss.

"You look pretty, who did your hair?"

"Um, her name is Mags, I'm staying with her down here. She's an old family friend."

"She did a great job, looks like something my mom would do."

She blushed, mumbling her thanks.

"So we're going to the club that just opened, it's mainly a college kid scene. You ready to party?" I bumped my hip into hers and grabbed my purse as she giggled.

"Yeah, let's have some fun!"

We headed out, taking her car to the club around the corner.

It was loud, crowded and energizing, the lights over the dance floor flashed around the room and the lights over the bar were dim.

"Everyone is crazy!" Annie shouted over the din.

"I know, let's join them!" We made our way to the dance floor, showing off our terrible dance moves and laughing as we let loose for the weekend.

Grades, bills, meals, crazy roommates and the completely different setting faded into the background as we swung our hips around and pumped our fists merrily.

"Hey, I know you girls!" We swiveled around to see Jo and her man toy, who was of course bulky and roughish.

"Oh hey look, it's my favorite roommate." I snorted.

"Good to see you to, squeeze. What are you two good girls doing here?"

"Letting loose, hun, why is anyone here?" Annie shouted. "Who's your man?"

"This is Blight. Blight, this is Kat and Annie."

"Hey girls!" He yelled. I smiled at him, wondering if he'll stick around and if I have to put up with him.

"I saw Finnick over by the bar, he was chatting up a storm with that junk that's into you, Kat."

"What? Who?"

"You know, the big blond guy."

"Cato?"

"No, the cute one."

"Peeta Mellark? He's not into me, we grew up together."

"Geez, brainless, you really don't know, do you?"

"Let's go find Finnick, Annie." I rolled my eyes and walked off with Annie in tow. Jo is ridiculous, Peeta doesn't like me...

"Fin!"

Finnick looked over and his eyes sparkled as he caught sight of the two of us heading towards him.

"My favorite girls! Hey lovelies!"

He took one of each of our hands and kissed our knuckles, and I wasn't blind to how he lingered on Annie's hand.

"Hi Kat, hi Annie, fancy seeing you guys here. Thought you didn't do clubs, Katniss?"

I grinned at Peeta.

"This is the one and only. Enjoy it while it lasts."

"Oh I intend to.."

Finnick cleared his throat.

"Want to dance, Annie?"

She giggled and nodded.

"I'd say project Odesta is working pretty well."

Peeta looked a little uncomfortable as he spoke.

"So apparently, Fin is not a one-woman guy. And he's already been with almost all the girls here. I'm... Mildly concerned for Annie."

"He doesn't seem like a bad guy though, maybe he just never found anyone he got along with long-term."

"No, he's not a bad guy. I just don't want Annie to get hurt, she's such a sweet girl."

"I'll keep an eye on her, you've ready to break Finnick's nose. And hope for it to work."

"Deal." We touched our glasses and grinned as we drank.


	3. Chapter 3

I left our bedroom, still trying to get my earring in, stopping short when I saw the scene in our living room.

"Peeta, what are you doing?" I started tossing all our throw pillows back onto the couches, wondering why my husband was standing on the arm of our couch with Sammy perched on his shoulders and Prim in his arms.

"Watch out, Mom! The ground is lava!" He yelled dramatically at me, a twinkle in his eye as our kids giggled uncontrollably. I rolled my eyes, stepping on the couch to placate them.

"Come here, Primmy, Daddy has to put on his nice clothes before Aunt Annie and Uncle Fin get here." I took Prim and Peeta tossed Sammy down onto the nest of pillows, blankets and couch cushions.

"Be right back, kiddo!" He ran off as Sammy climbed up to sit next to me.

"Is Aunt Jo coming to take care of us?" I nod, brushing his sweaty curls back from his eyes.

"Yes, she'll be here any minute. Do you want to help me clean up this mess before we see her?" I asked them both. Prim nodded vigorously and Sammy leapt up, awkwardly trying to get the couch cushions back in place. I smiled at our little twins, Sammy's curly black hair and Prim's straight blonde hair being a perfect mix of Peeta and me. When we'd gotten the room back together, I picked them up and carried them into the kitchen, sitting them on the counter.

"Aunt Jo is going to help you make presents for Daddy's birthday, okay? So make sure you clean everything up after so he doesn't find out." The nod solemnly. Prim tells me,

"Mommy, I want to make him a punkin for his birthday. With a bird on top. He likes the birds singing, doesn't he?" I chuckle.

"Yes he does, Prim. Tell Aunty and she can help you, okay?"

"Okay. What are you going to make him, Sam?" She pokes her brother's arm to prompt him to answer.

"I'm gonna build him a rocket so he can go to the moon with me. I already have my own but he's too big, he wouldn't fit in it." He tells us practically. I have a hard time taking these kids seriously because they're so full of ideas that I can only assume make perfect sense to them. But it just gives me and Peeta something to chuckle about before we sleep.

"That's a good idea, Sammy, I think he'd like that." I say, holding a finger to my lips as I catch Peeta's heavy tread coming out of our room. "Don't tell Daddy, okay?" They both nod and Prim mimics my gesture seriously. The doorbell rings and Sammy climbs onto a stool before jumping to the floor, his bare feet making little smacking noises as he runs to let Jo in. I hear Peeta ask him if he wants to look out the peep hole to check. I look back at Prim,

"You make sure Aunty and Sammy are good, kay Little Duck? You know how they are..." We both giggle conspiratorially and I scoop her up to go greet Jo.

"There's my favorite lil girl!" Jo shouts, holding her arms out to take Prim when she sees us. Prim laughs and practically leaps into her arms.

"Aunty Jo!" Sam is on Peeta's shoulders again, playing with his hair and bouncing up and down.

"We're gonna have a great time, aren't we, just you," she pokes the tip of Prim's nose, "and you," she reaches up to poke Sammy's nose as well, "And me in this biiiiiig house!" Jo's tone should scare me, but she's gotten a lot calmer in the past few years, so I know the house will still be here when we get home. I see the headlights of the Odair's car through the window and grab my purse off the table next to the door.

"Finnick and Annie are here," I tell Peeta, reaching up to take Sammy down to say goodbye. "Take care of your sister, Sammy." I give him a loud kiss on his plump cheek, passing him back to his dad. "And you, make sure these two don't do anything silly." I tell Prim, smiling and kissing her forehead. Peeta does the same and we head out to get in the car.

"What did we do without those little dumplings?" I sigh to Peeta as we follow the Odairs to the restaurant.  
~~~~~~~~~

"You're looking great, Annie!" I hug the redhead, being careful not to squish her round belly.

"It's been too long, I can't wait to hang out with the twins tomorrow!" She tells me, never letting go of Finnick's hand. I greet him as Peeta talks to Annie, and we both agree that 6 years is far too long to spend apart. The last time we saw them was at their wedding, and that was about a year and a half after ours. The twins are nearly 4, and Annie is 5 months along with their first. I never thought I would say this, but I'm glad that Johanna lives only 20 minutes away from us. She loves taking care of our kids whenever we need a breather, and she's really balanced out since college.

We were seated a few minutes later, ordering the best of everything since this was sort of a holiday.

"Peet, your birthday is coming up, isn't it? November sometime?" Fin asks through his artichoke dip. Peeta nods.

"Yeah, the 12th. We're taking the kids to Disneyland."

"Disneyland?" Annie smirks.

"Yeah, we say that we're taking the kids there, but the truth is that the kids and I are taking Peeta there." I joke, grinning at him.

"Okay, that makes more sense." Finnick snorts. "That sounds more of a Peeta-like thing to do." We laugh, and Peeta grins, we all know Peeta is a kid at heart.

"In my defense, this was all Katniss's idea, I had no say." He says, offering me a bite of whatever it is he's eating. I, of course, take it, snitching several more bites when he isn't looking because it tastes so good.

"Also," I say, making eye contact with Peeta and smiling, "we told the kids last night, I'm pregnant again." Annie squealed in delight and Finnick congratulated us. "Because twins wasn't enough!" I laugh.

 **That's it! This is probably the last update for this story, I hope you enjoyed it, and I know it's a pretty short one overall. If I get enough requests, I might do an epilogue, with old/er Katniss and Peeta celebrating their anniversary with adult Sammy and Prim. Yes, Katniss wanted to name her little blondie after her sister, who is still alive (don't worry!) just not in this particular story. I might even do a flashback convo with Prim's reaction to hearing that Katniss is going out with Peeta.**


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